Exodus 32:23

_AND IT CAME TO PASS, AS SOON AS HE CAME NIGH UNTO THE CAMP, THAT HE SAW THE CALF, AND THE DANCING: AND MOSES' ANGER WAXED HOT, AND HE CAST THE TABLES OUT OF HIS HANDS, AND BRAKE THEM BENEATH THE MOUNT._ As soon as he came nigh unto the camp ... he saw the calf, and the dancing. An abrupt turn from the lower platform, where Moses had rejoined Joshua, revealed in a moment, what had taken place (Drew's 'Scripture Lands,' p. 67). MOSES' ANGER WAXED HOT. The arrival of the leader, like the appearance of a spectre, arrested the revellers in the midst of their carnival, and his act of righteous indignation, when he dashed on the ground the tables of the law, in token that, as they had so soon departed from their covenant relation, God would withdraw the special privileges that He had promised them-that act, together with the rigorous measures that followed, forms one of the most striking sc...

21-29 Never did any wise man make a more frivolous and foolish excuse than that of Aaron. We must never be drawn into sin by any thing man can say or do to us; for men can but tempt us to sin, they cannot force us. The approach of Moses turned the dancing into trembling. They were exposed to shame by their sin. The course Moses took to roll away this reproach, was, not by concealing the sin, or putting any false colour upon it, but by punishing it. The Levites were to slay the ringleaders in this wickedness; yet none were executed but those who openly stood forth. Those are marked for ruin who persist in sin: those who in the morning were shouting and dancing, before night were dying. Such sudden changes do the judgments of the Lord sometimes make with sinners that are secure and jovial in their sin....

The faithfulness of Moses in the office that had been entrusted to him was now to be put to the test. It was to be made manifest whether he loved his own glory better than he loved the brethren who were under his charge; whether he would prefer that he should himself become the founder of a “great nation,” or that the Lord’s promise should be fulfilled in the whole people of Israel. This may have been especially needful for Moses, in consequence of his natural disposition. See Numbers 12:3; and compare Exodus 3:11. With this trial of Moses repeated in a very similar manner Numbers 14:11, may be compared the trial of Abraham Genes

EXPOSITION AARON TRIES TO EXCUSE HIMSELF. Having taken the needful steps for the destruction of the idol, Moses naturally turned upon Aaron. He had been left in charge of the people, to guide them, instruct them, counsel them in difficulties (Exodus 24:14). How had he acquitted himself of his task? He had led the people into a great sin—had at any rate connived at it—assisted in it. Moses therefore asks, "What had the people done to him, that he should so act? How had they injured him, that he should so greatly injure them?" To this he has no direct reply. But he will not acknowledge himself in fault—he must excuse himself. And his excuse is twofold:— 1. It was the people's fault, not his; they were "set on mischief." 2. It was a fatality—he threw

FOR THEY SAID UNTO ME, MAKE US GODS, WHICH SHALL GO BEFORE US,.... Which was true, Exodus 32:1 but then he should have told them, that gods were not to be made; that what were made with hands were no gods, and could not go before them; that the making of any image, similitude, or representation of God, was forbidden by him, as they had lately heard from his own mouth; he should have dissuaded from such idolatry, by showing them the evil nature of the sin, and the ruin they exposed themselves to by it: FOR [AS FOR] THIS MOSES, THE MAN THAT BROUGHT US UP OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, WE WOT NOT WHAT IS BECOME OF HIM; their words he truly recites, and perhaps might choose the rather to mention them, because they carried in them some reflection on Moses for staying so long in the mount; and as if that contributed much to this affair, and which put the people on forming such a scheme,

Exodus 32:1. _And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him._ What a terrible speech to be made by the people whom God had chosen to be his own! «Make us gods. Make our Creator.» How could that be? Exodus 32:2. _And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me._ Poor Aaron! He never had the backbone of his brother Moses. He was a better speaker; but oh, the poverty of his heart! He yields to the will of these idolatrous peo

4. ISRAEL ‘S SIN AND REBELLION CHAPTER 32 _ 1. The people in rebellion (Exodus 32:1)_ 2. Jehovah threatens his wrath (Exodus 32:7) 3. Moses beseeches Jehovah (Exodus 32:11) 4. Moses descends and in the camp (Exodus 32:15) 5. Moses' offer and failure (Exodus 32:30) This chapter records the breaking of the covenant by Israel ‘s sin, rebellion against Jehovah, and idolatry. Here we find man's heart fully uncovered, that wicked heart of unbelief. What manifestations of God's power they had seen! Their eye

EXODUS 32:1 E, EXODUS 32:7 Rje, EXODUS 32:15 E, EXODUS 32:25 J, EXODUS 32:30 E s, EXODUS 32:35 E. THE GOLDEN CALF. Exodus 32:32 stand between the instructions for the Tent and their fulfilment. Their religious value is high and clear. But their literary growth has been too complex to trace here (_see_ Driver, CB 346ff.). It is po

MAN. _Hebrew 'ish,_ App-14. WOT. know....

Aaron, taken to task by Moses for what has occurred, makes excuses....